Armenian opposition wants government to accept constitutional changes in full

Arminfo
21 Jan 05

YEREVAN

Armenian Parliament Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan and the secretary of the
opposition Justice bloc, Viktor Dallakyan, discussed the suggestions
of the opposition on constitutional changes at a meeting today, Viktor
Dallakyan has told Arminfo.

He said the meeting had been initiated by Artur Bagdasaryan. The
speaker promised that the ruling coalition would duly consider and
respond to the possibility of including the suggestions in the final
draft of the constitutional changes to be ready in 10 days.

During the meeting, Dallakyan stressed that the opposition insists
that the entire package of its suggestions should be accepted.

“It will be unacceptable to us if the coalition approves only some of
the provisions in this package,” he said. Also, the opposition insists
that the coalition should work out a single position on these
suggestions.

“We won’t accept it if, for example, the Republican Party and the
Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed Country] Party work out one position on
the issue, while the Armenian Revolutionary Federation –
Dashnaktsutyun another,” Dallakyan said.

The bloc suggests reconsidering three crucial provisions of the draft,
which concern the responsibilities of the executive, judicial branches
and local governments. Namely, the bloc suggests introducing a
provision whereby the composition of the government would be approved
by the parliament following the president’s recommendation. If the
parliament does not approve the composition of the government proposed
by the president, then the legislature has to propose and approve an
alternative composition of the executive branch.

As far as the formation of the judiciary is concerned, the bloc
suggests that it should be formed by the Justice Council without the
president’s intervention because the judiciary should not depend on
the executive branch of power.

The bloc also considers it necessary to make the position of the
Yerevan mayor an elected one and introduce a corresponding provision
in the draft.

The opposition National Unity Party has joined the suggestions of the
Justice bloc. If the ruling coalition pays attention to the
opposition’s suggestions, the latter may join the discussions of the
draft.

The constitutional referendum is due to be held in late spring-early
autumn 2005.